


New Year's Resolution

by bittersweetblonde



Category: One Tree Hill
Genre: Eventual Romance, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, One Shot, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-22
Updated: 2019-01-22
Packaged: 2019-10-14 14:37:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17510477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bittersweetblonde/pseuds/bittersweetblonde
Summary: Lucas and Peyton have been friends for almost ten years and have never been able to get it together. Will New Year's Eve be the time when they finally do?





	New Year's Resolution

Lucas Scott sighed to himself as he found himself staring at the new profile picture Peyton Sawyer had posted on her facebook account. It was just a normal photo, she was wearing a cute jumper and she had her hair loosely curled. She'd previously had one of herself in a Santa hat which he'd publicly as well as personally liked and he figured with it not being Christmas anymore she'd just taken a random one of herself to change it to, but to him it was far from being random. It was beautiful, she was beautiful and that was one of the things he liked about her, she didn't even know it. People would pay her compliments all the time, he had himself and even though she thanked them for saying such nice and kind things, she never really believed any of them. After liking her picture, it didn't take long for a few people to comment on it and as he noticed her thanking people for saying she looked cute, lovely and like he'd thought himself, beautiful, he couldn't help but picture her not believing any of them and it brought a slight smile to his face.  
He'd known Peyton for a long time, in fact it would be getting on for ten years next year and it surprised him. He had friends that were girls, he'd been best friends with Haley for as long as he could remember, but he'd never been friends with a girl he had feelings for, for this long. Lucas wasn't a playboy, but he'd had his fair share of relationships over the years and other than Brooke, most of those girls had come and gone from his life. That was one of the reasons why nothing had ever happened with him and Peyton. In the beginning he'd played the field a little, he was young and didn't really know better and when he'd asked her out back then she'd always turned him down. He'd been hurt and he felt rejected, but they'd always stayed friends and in the last few years he understood why she'd said no in the past. He wasn't a womanizer, but he could imagine it being pretty hard to trust the guy he used to be. She'd had a few relationships of her own, but she was more sensible and mature with hers and they lasted a little longer than his had.   
As the time had gone and he began to mature himself, he'd realised that Peyton was the girl he wanted. She was still his friend and he still liked her.   
They'd meet up and hang out together, shoot some hoops or go for drives. They'd chat and laugh the hours away and they got closer. They'd share the odd kiss if both of them were single at the time or they'd joke about getting married one day, but recently it had got less jokey and more frequent. Lucas had even started seeing it more seriously, this girl had things in common with him, this girl made him laugh, this girl was beautiful and didn't even know it, this girl knew his past with other girls and was still in his life, this girl liked him, this girl was his girl and he hadn't been able to stop thinking about her.  
Deciding to log off facebook and his laptop altogether before he sent his brain into a Peyton meltdown, Lucas took a few hours to eat, watch some tv and just chill out, but as he went to bed that night, Peyton was stuck in his head again. Her smile, her laugh...everything about her!  
He knew this couldn't go on, he knew that he'd done this before, he knew that she'd said no, but he knew he had to tell her and he knew he had to ask. So he grabbed his cell and started typing out a text.

Peyton had spent the last hour on a high. It was the last week of December, she was off work for the holidays, Christmas had just been, she'd got to see and spend time with her Dad and she felt really happy. All of the previous stuff was partly why she was happy, but the reason she'd been on a high for the last hour was because of Lucas Scott.  
It sounded a stupid reason, but he'd liked her latest profile picture on facebook, he'd also liked the one she'd posted before of herself in a Santa hat and out of all her friends online, he was the one she wanted to see like it. It may have made her sound ungrateful to the others that had liked it too or that had left her sweet comments, but having him like it was all she really wanted.  
She'd liked Luke for ages and she'd liked him as more than a friend for at least eight years of their friendship, but nothing had ever really happened between them. Luke had asked her out a few times in the beginning and as much as she'd have wanted to say yes, she could see he wasn't a committable person back then and told him no. Surprisingly to her, she thought that would have been it, no more being friends, no more talking, but oddly they'd both stayed in each others lives and were still close today, almost ten years later. As time had gone on, she'd noticed him change into a mature guy. There'd been times during him growing up where she'd been tempted to suggest them going out properly, but timing hadn't been on her side. The moment she'd pluck up the courage, something would get in the way. A phone ringing just as she was about to blurt it out or a knock at the door interrupting her. She'd taken it as a sign not to say anything and for all she knew, he might not have felt like that about her anymore? She also had one other thing stopping her from saying anything and it was another reason why she'd not agreed to go out with him in the past.   
In the last few weeks leading up to Christmas her and Lucas had been meeting up more, talking more and getting closer. Luke hadn't mentioned anything about being more than friends though and she didn't want to say anything herself incase it was one sided or if something decided to get in the way before she could or because of her own annoying issue.   
As she logged off facebook for the night, she turned her phone off, put her favourite music on and smiled, still feeling on a high. Lucas liking her newest profile pictures in the last week was enough for her.  
It was an hour later when she turned in for the night, unaware of the text she'd wake up to the next day.

Morning soon came around and Peyton opened her eyes around ten am. She loved having time off for the holidays because as well as it meaning she got a break and she got to see her Dad, she also got to enjoy having lay ins. She was never the best morning person. After having a shower and breakfast, Peyton then decided to get ready for the day. She walked over to her stereo in her robe, put on one of her favourite albums and turned her cell on. She'd normally leave it on all night and hardly ever switched it off, but she wasn't working so she figured there'd be no important calls or messages to take and it actually relieved her a little to not have to deal with that either.  
As she made her bed, humming along to the song that was playing, her cell beeped, alerting her that she'd gotten a new message. She smiled to herself guessing it was Brooke or someone and let it sit there for a bit while she picked out some clothes and got dressed.  
Walking over to where her cell was sat, she then grabbed it and got a bit of a surprise to see it was from Lucas, but what surprised her more, was what it said.

_Hey Peyt, how are you? I've been thinking about you a lot & I honestly can't keep denying my feelings for you. I was wondering if you would consider maybe seeing each other to see if we would work as a couple. We can take things slow & at your pace. I understand if you don't want to. I'll give you some time to think about it, but just let me know either way. Xx_

Peyton read it back a few times just to make sure she wasn't seeing things and she even ended up pinching herself to make sure she wasn't still in bed and having some perfect dream, she found out she wasn't when she nipped herself a little too hard and it hurt.  
She couldn't believe he'd sent it, fair enough he'd liked her profile picture last night online, but recently when they'd met up, it had been totally friendly and jokey. She hadn't been expecting this and it had thrown her, so much so that she spent the next half an hour just staring at it.  
She needed to reply, she didn't know if she should do it by text or if she should call him. She didn't even know what she'd say?! She knew what she wanted to say, but thinking it was a lot different than taking the plunge and going for it. He was mature now, he was what she'd wanted him to be in the beginning so that was ok, her feelings for him weren't one sided, she knew that now too and that was another tick in the box, plus she had no timing issue to deal with, there was nothing to get in the way, he'd done the asking and it was up to her to say yes, the ball was in her court...but there was still one thing stopping her and as she looked down at the message she'd typed out while thinking all this in her head, she deleted the last bit and changed it before sending it.

Lucas woke up at about one pm, since he'd not been working for the holidays he'd opted for long lay ins and today was no different, although he had a feeling of dread in his stomach, especially when he reached for his phone and saw he had a new message waiting for him. He knew Peyton wouldn't have replied to him straight away last night, he'd told her he'd give her time to think about it after all and the poor girl was probably in shock! An hour after he'd sent it, he decided to go to sleep, there'd been no reply from her and he guessed there wouldn't be for a while, so he switched his phone to silent and turned in for the night.  
Seeing the new message alert on his cell now though was worrying him, especially when he saw it was from Peyton. Part of him didn't want to open it while the other part of him was desperate to.  
With hope and slight fear, he bit the bullet and opened the new message.

_Hey, in all honesty I've been thinking about you a lot too & thanks for being so sweet with the whole going slow side of it. I'll think it over & let you know asap. Xx_

Luke then laid back down in bed and didn't know how to feel? The start of the message sounded promising, she'd been thinking about him as much as he had her and the offer of going slow had worked in his favour, but the last part of the message had him questioning if she was being serious or not. If she wanted to be with him, if she'd thought about him as much as she said she had then she would have agreed, it wouldn't need thinking about right?  
He shrugged it off, not wanting his mind to go there, after all he'd told her he'd give her time to think about it so he'd respect that and maybe she really did need to think it over? He just hoped it wouldn't take too long.  
The rest of the afternoon went by and he'd heard nothing from her, not until early evening when she'd asked if he'd go over. She'd said they needed to talk about this face to face not through their cell phones and he agreed, turning up at her place an hour later.

Peyton opened the door to Lucas and offered him a drink once she'd let him inside. She wasn't sure how this was going to go? Her previous relationships had never started out like this, there'd never been a conversation about becoming an item, it had always just happened and she guessed it was like that for Luke too so she wasn't sure why she'd suggested it?  
Walking into the room with a coffee for him, Luke thanked her as she sat down with a coffee of her own.  
"Right, so us." She started, sounding a little awkward. "Are we going to get straight to it, or..." She continued and Lucas just chuckled.  
"It's what I came here for, you said we should talk about it so...lets talk about it." He replied and Peyton just smiled.  
"Ok, well..." She began and then stopped and shook her head. "I'm sorry, I know this was my idea, but I'm so bad at this, I don't even know why I suggested it." She admitted and Luke laughed.  
"Don't worry, I'm not great at it either." He told her and then put his coffee down and looked at her. "I think we'd be good together, me and you. We fit don't we? I want to get to know you on a more than friends basis." He said and Peyton looked at him confused.  
"Ok and how do we do that?" She asked.  
"Spend more than a few hours together every so often, go to the movies, go to dinner...date. We already know each other pretty well so it won't be awkward." He explained.  
"Yeah that's true and we have stuff in common so there'll be no silences either." She added.  
"Yeah, no filler questions like 'When's your birthday' to break it because I already know when yours is." He said and Peyton looked at him surprised.  
"You know my birthday off by heart?" She asked and he nodded with a laugh.  
"Of course I do." He said and then stopped laughing and looked at her. "You don't know mine?" He asked and she just smiled.  
"Of course I do." She replied and Luke smiled back. "So what else do you know about me that I didn't think you did?" She asked and Luke shrugged.  
"Could be a number of things? Could be a number of things I think you don't know about me that you do. That's why dating will be good, we can find them out and find out new things about each other than we didn't know before." He told her and Peyton just nodded.  
"Yeah I guess?" She said, suddenly sounding a little down hearted about the whole thing.  
"What's wrong?" He asked and she sighed.  
"Is this really going to work? I mean I wasn't expecting this...I've been wanting something like this to happen between us for so long and now it is, I...I don't know?" She said.  
"Course it'll work. Do you remember that pact we made where we said that if we were still single by 30 we'd marry each other? Well last night I just started thinking what's the point in wasting the next six years of our lives. We're still in each others lives now and I think we both know we'll end up together eventually. I'm just speeding it up a little." He told her and Peyton just looked at him and smiled.  
"You remember that pact?" She asked and Luke nodded.  
"I also think you have feelings for me, but only you can say that." He said and Peyton let out a sigh.  
"I do, I always have done, cheesy as that may sound." She admitted and Luke just chuckled.  
"So what's stopping us? What's scaring you?" He asked and Peyton looked at him. How did he know something was scaring her?!  
"How do you know me so well?" She asked.  
"After nearly ten years, you get to know a person well." He replied and Peyton smiled.  
"I guess that's what scares me. We've been friends for so long. If we got together and it didn't work out, that'd be it. It'd be over, we could never go back to being just friends again. I don't want to lose our friendship, I don't want to lose you." She admitted and Lucas tilted his head and looked at her sympathetically before reaching out and stroking her cheek.  
"You won't. I'll always be here Peyt." He said and she pulled away and stood up, much to his confusion.  
"You can't say that. You don't know that." She told him. "People always leave Lucas." She added and suddenly she'd let the only issue that was stopping her slip out and he caught onto it.  
"You think I'm going to be one of those people?" He asked as he stood up and she just shrugged.  
"I don't know, probably. It's what always happens, especially with men. My Dad leaves for his job, I'm not with any of the guys I've dated and you're not with any of the girls you've dated so...so yeah you probably will." She said and Lucas just shook his head.  
"I can't believe you're thinking this let alone saying it. Peyton I've been in your life for almost a decade. I'm still here!" He said.  
"As a friend yeah, but the minute we go from more than that, that's the moment it changes." She replied.

Lucas just stood there as she explained to him her theory of him leaving her and he started wondering if she was just using it as a cover.  
"You know what, maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe I shouldn't have texted you last night. I think you need to be true to yourself before you can be true to me." He said and Peyton looked at him confused.  
"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked.  
"It means that I think you're using this whole 'people always leave' as a cover. I'm worried that your feelings for me aren't completely true." He told her.  
"You think my feelings for you aren't true?!" She asked in surprise.  
"Yeah, because if you feel for me what I feel for you then we wouldn't be here discussing us going from more than friends, we'd already be there!" He replied.  
"Trust me that's not the problem here." She said. "But yeah, maybe you're right, maybe this was a bad idea." She added and Lucas just let out a sigh.  
"So what now...we're just staying mates then?" He asked and she nodded.  
"This wasn't how tonight was supposed to go, but yeah. Yeah I guess we are." She told him and fifteen minutes later, Lucas had decided to head back home.  
He didn't know what to make of the whole thing, was she scared of him leaving her or was it all a cover? Should he have stayed and talked to her, got her to open up or did he do the right thing in leaving early and not ask any questions or try to reassure her that she had nothing to worry about? He was so confused.

A few days had gone by and it was New Years Eve. Peyton didn't feel in the mood to celebrate what was the biggest party night of the year, Lucas hadn't been in touch, there'd been no texts, calls or anything on facebook from him and why would there be? This was all her fault. He'd put himself out there after Christmas, opened himself up to her, offered to do things on her terms in going slowly and all she had to do was say yes, but no, instead of his old teenage ways or their timing or any other damn thing that got in the way to screw it up, she'd done it herself this time by her stupid insecurity of a saying.  
She couldn't believe that he thought her feelings for him weren't completely true, but then again she could. She hadn't exactly let him know or shown him of any over the last ten years. If only he knew though.  
Going on facebook that afternoon, she saw a lot of New Years Eve posts and they all said similar things, but a few caught her eye and got her thinking. A new year was coming, a new start, a clean slate. The first blank page of a 365 book to write and how you should write a good one. How New Years Eve was about love, hope, forgiveness, second chances and fresh starts and it really hit a nerve with Peyton. Tonight at midnight was when she had the chance to finally rid herself of her saying and get what she'd always wanted, Lucas!  
She knew he'd be out at Tric tonight. He'd told her a few weeks ago of his plans for New Year and she'd decided to surprise him in a way like he'd surprised her after Christmas.  
As the time ticked on and got towards the evening, she'd dolled herself up and typed out about ten different messages before finally being happy with the one she planned on sending come midnight.

Lucas arrived at Tric at eleven, he'd spent most of the day with his brother, best friend and nephew and was going to enjoy a few drinks with Skills and the old rivercourt boys tonight. He'd been in the club for about half an hour when a group of girls came over to them and started flirting. Naturally Skills, Mouth, Junk and Fergie all enjoyed the attention and flirted back and so did Lucas, but Peyton was still on his mind and none of these girls were comparing to her. In the past he wouldn't have thought twice about hooking up with one of these girls but now...well he loved Peyton. He was in love with Peyton and he was sure he always would be...whether she loved him back or not. If he was being honest, he was sure he'd loved her when he was younger and less sensible too, but it was complicated now. In fact it always had been. They'd missed so many chances, they'd been friends all this time when they could have been together, it never happened and with Peyton putting the brakes on, it probably never would.  
"Sorry, excuse me a minute." Lucas said as he unwrapped the the unnamed flirty girl that was hoping to kiss him at midnight away from his body and headed outside for some fresh air.  
As he looked at his phone, he noticed it was now fifteen minutes until it struck midnight and he didn't know what to do. For the last few years him and Peyton had always texted each other a happy new year if they weren't all together with their friends and he didn't know if he should tonight? After all it was her that had screwed things up, not him...then again had it been him? If he hadn't have said anything in the first place, they'd probably still be as close as they were before.  
Putting his phone away, he decided against it and then headed back into Tric about ten minutes later just in time to join in the countdown with everyone.  
"10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. HAPPY NEW YEAR!" The whole club shouted and soon there were party poppers and all sorts going off along with everyone hugging everyone and kisses being shared between people and that very moment, Lucas felt his cell vibrate in his pocket. He had his hopes up that it would be Peyton, but assumed it was just someone else wishing him a happy New Year. It turned out to be the first person and as soon as he read it, he felt like the New Year was already going to be a brilliant one.

_I couldn't think of a New Years resolution & then it hit me. Stop being scared. So if that offer of us seeing each other is still open, my answer is yes. Xxx_

Luke then ran out, about to call her and ask her where she was, but he didn't have far to look because as soon as he got of Tric, she was stood there, cell in her hand, a smile and hopeful look on her face and she gave him a wave.  
"Happy New Year Luke." She said and Luke just ran to her and picked her up, spinning her around and kissing her.  
"Happy New Year baby." He replied once they'd pulled away and as the fireworks went off around them, they both knew this year was going to be their year.

 


End file.
